Windshield cleaner



Sept. 2, 1941. w. E. ZIERER WINDSHIELD CLEANER File d Dec. 5, 195a INVENTOR WALL/q CE 5. Z/ERER B m, WJw /M A TTORNE Y5- Patented Sept. 2, i941 UNITED" STATES PATENT. OFFICE.

Wallace E. Zlerer, Highland Park, Mich., assignor to Chrysler Corporation. Highland Park, Mich,

a corporation 'of Delaware Application December 5, 1938, Serial No. 243,953 6 Claims. (01. 15-255) 'Phis invention relates to improved window cleaners. and particularly pertains to cleaners for cleaning curved Windshields of vehicles.

The/main object of the invention is to provide an improved windshield wiper, or cleaner, having a wiper blade contacting 'the'surfa'ce of a curved windshield substantially uniformly during oscil-' latory movement thereover.

Further objects of the invention are to provide a windshield cleaner of this character having a normally curved flexible cleaner element which is automatically straightened to a desired degree during movement of the element over a predetermined portion of the windshield; and to pro vide a windshield cleaner of .this kind in which the contact pressure of the wiper blade on varibeen mounted.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken as I indicated by the line 2-2 of Fig. i.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken approximately as indicated by the line 3-8 of Fig.1.

Fig. 4 is-a substantially horizontal sectional view taken along the line H of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5 of Fig. 1 and illustrating the wiper blade at one end of its travel.

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic representation of the movement of the cleaner linkage during operation.

in the form of the invention illustrated in the drawing, the improved windshield cleaners iii and ii are substantially identical and a description of one will therefore be adequate. The cleaners it and ii are illustrated as operating on a vehicle windshield it having a vertical axis of curvature. The vehicle body i8 includes a header member It spaced from the outer shell of the top portion of the vehicle body to form a space The improved windshield cleaner comprises a motor 20 enclosed within the space It. The mo- A finger operated member I! protrudes 'rearwardcentral-vertical position (illustrated inFigs. 1

ly into the driver's compartment of the vehicle and is adapted to be operated to start and 'stop the operation of the motor 20. y

The motor 20 has a drive shaft I6, which projects forwardly through. the body shell l3, and on which is yieldably mounted a cleaner arm ll. Arm lThasflxed thereto at its lower end a channel-shaped member I'I' having flanges l8.

Secured to the member ll, between flanges I8, is a wiper bladestructure generally designated by the numeral 25 on'the drawing (see Fig. 5). The structure 25 has. a latch portion 26 which interlocks with a slot is. in'the member I1 to form a relatively loose connection between the wiper 25- and the arm' ii.

The wiper structure 25 comprises a normally curved wiper element 21, preferably of rubber, which is secured to 'a spring steel back portion II. The back 28 is, in turn, secured at each of its ends to' each flange of the channel-shaped member 26 by a pin and slot connection generally. indicated by the reference numeral 25". A cam 30 is pivotally mounted on the pin 29 within the, channel of member l1 and has operative engagement with the backportion 28 of element is pivoted to the outer body shell at 32 on an axis vertically parallel with the axis of shaft [6. The lower end of arm 3! is pivotally secured at 33 to the cam 30.

-When the wiper element 2'! is at one of its extreme oscillative positions (as indicated by the dotted lines-in Fig. 1) its normal contour corresponds to the curvature of the windshield at that position (see Fig. 5) and the low side of cam $6 is-in contact with the back portion 28 of the wiper element. Swinging of the arm ill to its and 3) the arm it exerts a gradual push to position the high side of cam 30 against'the back 28. This is due to the diiierence in length between arms 3! and I7 and results in the member-25 being flattened to conform to the surface of the windshield at this position, which is of course.

flat.. Relative movement between the back 28 and the member 25 is accommodated by the elongated slots which form part of the connection I It is therefore apparent vertical axis of curvature. n is, of course,'un-

An arm ii, of shorter length thanthe arm ll,

I derstood that the cleaner can be made to operate on Windshields having a horizontal or an oblique axis of curvature by merely altering the shape of the cam 30. Various other modifications and changes in the illustrated application of the invention may be effected without departing from the spirit of the invention or from the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A windshield cleaner for cleaning the curved surface of a windshield comprising an oscillatable driven shaft, 9. wiper element supporting arm operably connected to said shaft, 9. wiper element supported at one end of said am, and cam operated means operably associated with said arm and said element for modifying the curvature of said element as it is oscillated over said surface. i

2. A windshield cleaner for cleaning the curved surface of a windshield comprising an oscillatable shaft, a wiper element supporting arm operably connected to said shaft, a normally curved wiper element supported at one end of said arm, and means for modifying the curvature of said element as it is oscillated over said surface, said means comprising a cam and means for actuating said cam.

3. A windshield cleaner comprising a driven shaft, a cleaner arm operatively connected thereto for oscillative movement in a defined path, a cleaner blade structure secured to said arm and including a wiper element having a flexible metal back portion, a cam carried by said structure with its face in operative engagement with said back portion, and means for automatically actuating said cam during movement of said am.

4. A windshield cleaner comprising a driven shaft, a cleaner arm operatively connected thereto for movement in a defined path, a cleaner structure secured to said am and including a wiper element with a flexible metal back portion, a cam carried by said structure with its face in operative engagement with said back, and a pivotally mounted arm of different length than the first said arm and operatively connected with said cam.

5. A windshield cleaner for a vehicle windshield. having curved surface portions including a driven shaft, a cleaner arm operatively connected thereto for movement in a defined path, a cleaner structure secured to said arm and including a normally curved wiper element having a flexible metal back portion, a pivotally mounted cam carried by said structure with its face in operative engagement with said back, and an arm of shorter length than the first said arm pivotally mounted on an axis substantially vertically parallel with the axis of said longer arm operatively connected with said cam.

6. In a windshield cleaner for cleaning the curved surface of a windshield, a cleaner structure pivotally mounted on a support adjacent one edge of said windshield, said structure comprising a wiper element having a flexible backing member and a normally curved wiper in contact with said surface, a cam carried by said structure with its face in operative engagement with said backing member, an arm pivotally mounted on said support and operatively connected to said cam, and means for oscillating said cleaner structure about its pivot.

WALLACE E. ZIERER. 

